xi, 544 p. ; 24 cm

"A Short History of Nearly Everything is a quest, the intellectual odyssey of a lifetime, as this curious writer attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization." "To that end, Bill Bryson apprenticed himself to a host of the world's most profound scientific minds, living and dead. His challenge is to take subjects like geology, chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people, like himself, made bored (or scared) stiff of science by school. His interest is not simply to discover what we know but to find out how we know it."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references and index

pt. I. Lost in the cosmos -- 1. How to build a universe -- 2. Welcome to the solar system -- 3. The Reverend Evan's universe -- -- pt. II. The size of the Earth -- 4. The measure of things -- 5. The stone-breakers -- 6. Science red in tooth and claw -- 7. Elemental matters -- -- pt. III. A new age dawns -- 8. Einstein's universe -- 9. The might atom -- 10. Getting the lead out -- 11. Muster Mark's quarks -- 12. The earth moves -- -- pt. IV. Dangerous planet -- 13. Bang! -- 14. The fire below -- 15. Dangerous beauty -- -- pt. V. Life itself -- 16. Lonely planet -- 17. Into the troposphere -- 18. The bounding main -- 19. The rise of life -- 20. Small world -- 21. Life goes on -- 22. Good-bye to all that -- 23. The richness of being -- 24. Cells -- 25. Darwin's singular motion -- 26. The stuff of life -- -- pt. VI. The road to us -- 27. Ice time -- 28. The mysterious biped -- 29. The restless ape -- 30. Good-bye

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